Manuals 1 and 2. Design & Identity Guidelines
Manuals is a comprehensive study of corporate identity manuals from the golden era of identity design, published by Unit Editions in two volumes. They are carefully curated collections of 20th-century style guides, or, as Steven Heller calls them, “sacred texts, revered for how they help shift graphic design from simply an intuitive practice to a rigorously strategic one.”
In today’s landscape, designers rely on digital templates to implement brand identities – fast, accurate and easily updatable, these digital manuals are now obligatory. But, in the eyes of many, we have lost something in the transition to digital style guides, and there is a growing recognition that the great printed standards manuals from the pre-digital era deserve a better fate than to be junked. — Unit Editions
Both books are entirely set in T-Star, which convinces as a straightforward title and body-copy typeface. With its low contrast and technical appearance, it’s a perfect match for a compilation of design manuals.
Hardback, 260mm×310mm. Screen printed clothbound cover with 1-color Pantone® wrap.
Manuals 1: Design & Identity Guidelines was published in 2014 and sold out shortly after. It was reprinted in 2016.
Manuals 1, table of contents.
New York City Transport Authority Graphics Standards Manual.
Chapter opening for an essay about the U.S. Department of Labor, by Paricia Belen & Greg D’Onofrio.
Manuals 1, spine.
Manuals 2 is a companion volume to Manuals 1. First published in a limited run in 2014, the book sold out almost immediately. A second printing is made available in October 2019.
Manuals 2, cover.
Manuals 2, table of contents.
Quote by Sean Wolcott.
